Former Chicago Bears linebacker Mike
Singletary
CBN.com - Coming up on August 1, 1998, former
Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary will be inducted in the Football
Hall of Fame. A two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and Superbowl champion,
Singletary played in 10 pro bowl games, before retiring from the Bears
in 1992. He and his wife Kim, who will deliver the introduction speech
during the Hall of Fall induction, have seven children and believe in
making the family a priority.
Mike Singletary knelt on the gym floor of the Cook County women's prison
in Chicago. The champion former pro-linebacker had come to give the female
inmates a spiritual pep talk, but their hard, blank stares indicated he
was wasting his words. The chaplain had warned him that he probably wouldn't
get through to them.
Singletary waited for God's instruction. "The Lord spoke to me in His
gentle way and said, 'I think what needs to happen here is for you to
humble yourself before them,'"
Still on his knees, Singletary symbolically
took the place of all the men who had abandoned and caused pain in the
women's life and audibly asked their forgiveness also on behalf of all
the men.
"I saw the tears begin to roll down the cheeks of the women," he says,
"and the brokenness that was there. Then the Lord could begin the healing."
When Singletary was a 12 years old, his father abandoned their family
and a Pentecostal church ministry. One of 10 children, Singletary would
sit for hours talking to his mother who kept the family together through
prayer and faith in God. Years later, Singletary recognized the hatred
and unforgiveness he still carried against his dad.
"So I realized that by forgiving my dad and coming underneath the obedience
of Christ, it allowed me to be free," he says. "People really need to
understand that forgiveness is not for the other person but for them."
 Forgiveness came into play once again
during the Singletary family reunion of 1995. Almost all the male siblings
had gone through a divorce and still suffered the effects of uncommitted
fathers prevalent for generations. The ex-wives, discussing the difficulty
of not having husbands as head of the household, caused the men to evaluate
their priorities.
After listening, Mike stepped up his commitment to shepherd his family
and provide a spiritual foundation for his home. He also credits his wife
Kim for helping him become a better husband and dad.
"She's always there for me," he says.
Similar to Mike Ditka's approach to coaching the Bears, Mike sees the
family as a team with each member putting team goals ahead of personal
ones to become champions. He spends time talking to his children and giving
them his full attention.
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